Ajinomoto turned a professor's discovery of umami into a global seasoning empire
A Tokyo chemistry professor, Kikunae Ikeda, traced a savoury taste he named umami to monosodium glutamate, then patented a way to make it from wheat. The company formed to sell it, Ajinomoto, launched its essence of taste powder in 1909 and now works in 31 countries.
Ajinomoto began in 1908 as an offshoot of Suzuki Pharmaceutical, founded the previous year by Saburōsuke Suzuki II and Ikeda. The seasoning debuted at a Tokyo product show in April 1909. Output climbed from under five tons in 1910 to nearly 85 by 1918, yet the firm ran a deficit for its first decade, partly because it kept cutting prices to reach ordinary kitchens and kept changing how it made the product.
Cost drove the recipe. Soybeans replaced wheat because they were cheaper, and later amino acids from sugar cane took over, letting factories in export markets produce locally and cut shipping. American shoppers were unimpressed by a powder the FDA labelled a vegetable protein derivative, but big orders from Heinz and Campbell Soup led to a larger American operation in 1931.
The war left its factory destroyed and money short, and production restarted only in 1947. By 1950, exports made up 95 percent of revenue. Partnerships with Kellogg, CPC and Best Foods brought corn flakes, Knorr soup and a house mayonnaise to Japan in the 1960s, followed by the stock powder Hon-Dashi, frozen foods, instant coffee with General Foods and the Cook Do range of Chinese sauces.
Amino acids became a second business. From 1956 the company supplied crystalline amino acids for medical use, feeding into the first amino acid infusions, and after American regulators re-approved aspartame it began making the sweetener at its Tokai plant in 1982. More recently it has shed units such as Calpis, bought frozen food makers and, in 2023, the gene therapy manufacturer Forge Biologics for 620 million dollars, and signed up to explore Solein, a protein grown by microbes fed on carbon dioxide.
Source: Ajinomoto
